Posts Tagged ‘school’

“Now, a scathing expose in Forbes by Katia Savchuk is highlighting the plight of AAU’s grads. In her article, Ms. Savchuk describes the 86-year-old for-profit institution as little more than a masterful scam, which sinks prospective arts students into debt and leaves them with few job options and little career guidance. And with federal loans paying lots of the bills, the school’s founders aren’t too concerned about graduates’ ability to pay back their hulking loans.”

As seen in GGP, rather far afield from any Academy of Art locations I’m aware of:

And here’s how things looked yesterday, with people continuing to park on the north side of Oak between Ashbury and Masonic, right aside the new NO STOPPING ANY TIME towaway signs. At first I thought the whole block was affected, but really it’s only about 75% of the block. This light pole is the demarcation line:

Boy, I wouldn’t have the stones to park a car right next to these signs. (A ticket and tow from DPT / SFMTA / MUNI / AutoTakeaway AutoReturn will run you something like $700-$1000, depending on how soon you start the process of getting your ride back.)

But also, if I were running the Urban High School (tuition > $40k per year) I would take effort to ensure actual notice to the people who park here. Of course, the new signs give notice, but human nature being what it is, why not do a little more, Urban School?

Here’s the copy (that, I’ll tell you, I would have written differently, but anyway):

“Tour our school, learn about our academic program & meet our teachers! Fall 2016 applicants may begin scheduling events in September 2015. This event is intended for, but not limited to, our neighbors and those who are not eligible to join the admission events in the fall.”

I’ll tell you, there are other schools in town [cough, Presidio Knolls*] who’ll look you right in the eye and say, more or less, we don’t want you, we don’t want your kid, and we don’t want your money. Ouch.

(This whole process of getting your kid into a private school after rolling snake-eyes in the SFUSD “lottery” can be like joining a sorority, just saying. Welcome to San Francisco!)

Anyway, there’s an Open House, just saying.

*Located not in the Presidio, but in the flats South of the Slot, oh well. Also, not to be confused with Presidio Hill.

I’ll tell you, right about now is generally when the board of directors of a typical organization would be holding an emergency meeting to assess, and then take action. But my experience in such matters is limited to non-Catholic orgs. Would these matters indeed go all the way up to the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, Italy? IDK.

“The facts of the 2005 lawsuit against Father Illo, which required him to pay $14,000 for therapy for the young girl he traumatized, are as follows:

An 11-year-old girl came to Father Illo in confidence to report an incident of sexual abuse by one of the priests in Illo’s parish in Modesto.

Upon listening to the child’s report of abuse, Fr. Illo responded by yelling at the child, calling her a liar and calling the character of the child’s mother into question.

Fr. Illo then invited the offending priest into his office, where the two of them further confronted the child.

It was only after Fr. Illo invited his secretary in the room and she found the child in a hysterical state that she was removed and the mother was called.

Fr. Illo has a sworn duty to immediately report all allegations of abuse to the police.

As part of the case, church documents detailing an internal canonical investigation were subpoenaed. This report raises questions about Fr. Illo’s leadership and referring to his personality as being “dictatorial, manipulative and insensitive.” The report recommended counseling for Fr. Illo.

Controversy has dogged Father Illo since he was appointed by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to Star of the Sea Parish and School in late 2014. After taking charge of the San Francisco parish he banned altar girls, saying only boys can be altar servers. The move sparked criticism along with his statements to parents that he planned on replacing the school’s teachers with nuns from Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist order the same nuns that walked out on students at Marin Catholic High School last week to protest an event to prevent bullying of LGBT youth.”

I’ll tell you, this school must look like a dream come true to a lot of parents who rolled snake-eyes in SFUSD’s kindergarten “lottery,” but signing your kid up there sure seems like it comes with a lot of baggage…